Unbroken
by Kaddy19
Summary: Zuko hates life in Ba Sing Se, but that is starting to change when one day he is followed by the Dai Li and a strange girl helps him out... Story is following the events of the show from the time in Ba Sing Se until the end...I'm bad at summaries, I know
1. Chapter 1

**Soooooo, I'm starting on yet another story. This one has been in my head for quite some time and I just had to write it down. I'll probably keep the chapters short and I'm planning on taking this until the end of the show and maybe beyond if it goes well.  
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**Btw, I like spycing up the whole story of Avatar a bit to make it more mature. I mean the show is great, but it's made for kids after all. That doesn't leave too much space for all the things that could be going on in the world of Avatar. So in my story the world is a slight bit more... well... how to put this... dangerous, cruel, vicious, all the things the real world is too. Keep that in the back your mind please.**

**Alright we'll see what comes of it. Hope you enjoy ;)**

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><p><strong>Prologue <strong>

Two years before

"Girl, you look me in the eyes when I talk to you, understood!" Zhao shouted at the beaten up girl before him. She was no older than fourteen. She had her gaze pinned to her bare toes, refusing to lift her head. "You're not making this any easier for yourself this way, you know?" Zhao said while he picked her up by the collar of her ragged tunic and punched her in the face once more. She could feel how blood started to fill her mouth and lifted her head slowly. She looked him right in the eyes. "See, isn't that easi…" She spit blood in his face. The guard by the door had to hold back a snicker at Zhao's shocked expression.

Zhao started cursing violently while he threw the girl to the ground and kicked her until she blacked out. "Get her back to her cell" was the last thing she heard before she was gone completely.

"Commander, what do you want to do about the girl?" the guard asked after he'd dragged her back to her cell.

"That filthy merchant, sold me an unbroken slave" Zhao mumbled to himself, while his face started reddening.

_A few weeks later_

"Prince Zuko, it's a pleasure to welcome you on my harbor" Zhao said with a false grin on his face. Zuko merely scoffed.

"We're merely here for fresh supplies" he said. His uncle elbowed him in the side for his bad behavior.

"What my nephew meant was that we are very thankful for you invitation to stay at the port for a while" Iroh said and slightly bowed his head.

"Everything for the great Dragon of the West" Zhao assured. "Girl!" he shouted over his shoulder at the corner of the tent they were sitting in. "Bring us some tea" The girl didn't look up, she merely walked out. Zhao pinched his nose. "It is so hard to find good servants around these parts" he complained. Iroh didn't respond. He merely looked after the girl walking out. He recognized the bruised spots around her wrists and ankles. _Chain marks, _he thought and his face saddened a bit.

_That night_

Zuko was still up late. He was roaming around the harbor in need of some distraction. He hadn't slept well since he'd started his quest to search for the Avatar. Nightmares were plaguing him.

As he walked by the ships he noticed movements in the dark corner of a buildings wall. Someone was hiding there.

"Who is there? Show yourself!" he demanded. From the corner came a noise, like someone hitting a box. Zuko was growing annoyed after there came no response after a while. He scowled before sending a small ball of fire towards the corner. It lighted up the darkness for a second before the person standing there just picked it up and let it vanish. Zuko thought he'd seen a girl but couldn't be sure. Before he could find out the person had run out of the corner and down to the docks. He ran after her. "I demand you to stop!" he shouted.

She walked around a corner, and when he caught up to her she was standing before a wall, a dead end. Now Zuko could see who she was. It was the girl from the tent, though now she was wearing a black cloak over her tunic and brown leather boots, which were probably stolen. The shock was written all over her face. "Please, let me go" she pleaded. He looked at her for a few more seconds, noticing the duffle bag on one of her shoulders; she was on the run. Zuko sighed and gave her a warning glare before turning around to leave. From the corner of his eye he saw the girl bow her head thankfully before running away.

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><p><strong>So much about the prologue, tell me what you think about it :)<strong>


	2. Chapter 2

**First chapter, here you go guys :)**

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><p><strong>1. <strong>

Two days ago Zuko and Iroh had arrived in Ba Sing Se. In those two days Zuko learned three things: Number one, working in a teashop was the most boring job one could get. Two, he would have never thought he'd miss his rusty little ship he'd been living on for three years this much. And finally number three, Ba Sing Se was a huge prison and nobody seemed to notice it. It was insane, and it made him hate this place all the more. His uncle, on the other hand really seemed to enjoy himself. He was truly happy here, at least he would be if he could make sure his nephew would be too.

"Uncle, how long do you intend to stay at this place?" Zuko asked in annoyance while his uncle walked around the small apartment putting down plants and other decorations. He seemed to really do his best to make the place look like a home.

"My nephew, we are no longer running from anyone. I want to make the best of our situation and make this place our home, and you should do the same" Iroh said with a smile. Zuko scoffed.

"This will never become my home! I don't belong here" he argued. Iroh gave a frustrated sigh, but he did not give up hope just yet. He believed that Zuko would find his place here and that he could become happy if he'd just let himself.

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><p>A few days passed by and the two of them fell into a routine. They would get up early in the morning to get ready for work, work in the tea shop for several hours and got back to the apartment for a scares dinner. Afterwards Iroh would often go out and take a walk around the lower ring. Zuko never joined him though. He'd 'rather stay in the small apartment than gamble around those filthy streets', as he put it.<p>

What Zuko didn't tell his uncle though was that he quite often would roam around the streets himself. Not as his usual disguised self though. Of the few things he had taken with him to Ba Sing Se where his swords and the blue mask the most valued ones. He'd often put on the mask and take the swords to sneak around on the roof of the city. That gave him a rare feeling of freedom, which he missed quite much at the time. Sometimes he would follow some Dai Li agents just to look if he would be noticed by them. He never was. It wasn't like he really cared what they were doing. He just needed some kind of distraction of the boredom of everyday life.

After a week or so he started recognizing a few things in the Dai Li's behavior. They patrolled around the entire city (at least he assumed, since he'd only been in a small part of the city himself), they always acted from the shadows. There were many more of them than a normal citizen would assume. They controlled everything and Zuko was almost sure they kept files of nearly every citizen of at least the upper and the middle ring. The lower ring, however, was pure chaos. Nobody kept track of how many people where actually down here. Good, at least he knew he couldn't be tracked so easily in this mess full of people.

At the moment he was following two of them through the streets of the lower ring. They seemed to be tracking someone. Zuko had seen those two before. They were in this area two days earlier and they still seemed to be searching for the same thing. It made him curious, however not too curious to be incautious. They'd almost spotted him once, and since then he kept following them only via the rooftops. Which was much more difficult.

They were walking into a small side street where three people were standing. They were all dressed in brown cloaks with hoods. They were whispering something to each other until one of them noticed that they were being watched. The two Dai Li agents looked at each other for an instant before they sent their rock gloves towards them. Two of the cloaked people escaped their grip, but one wasn't so lucky. He was pinned to the ground, unable to move. Zuko watched it all from a roof top. The one pinned down gave the other two a look. "Run!" he shouted at them. The others looked at him for a second before they turned around and ran. One of the Dai Li agents secured the captured one while the other followed the ones that had gotten away.

Zuko followed after them too and saw how they both split up into two different streets. He decided to follow the Dai Li agent, who could now only follow one of them. The cloaked one had no luck, he walked into a dead end.

Zuko got there before the Dai Li agent. He caught a glimpse of his face. He was in shock, looking around hysterically before he suddenly became completely calm. He took a piece of paper from his pocket and stuffed it between the piles of dump against the wall, then he just stood there waiting for the Dai Li agent, who was coming definitely before he would get the chance to flee. Zuko could do nothing but watch when the second of the three was captured and dragged away. The third one they had lost apparently.

Zuko waited on the roof for a while before he came down to see what the man had stuffed between the garbage. He was, after all, curious. It took him a few minutes before he'd found it, laying between two sacks of trash. It was a scroll with an Earth Kingdom sigil on it. The seal had already been broken. Before he could open and read it he was interrupted, thought.

"Hey, drop that! And keep your hands up!" the Dai Li agent on the end of the street shouted. Zuko was startled for a moment, when suddenly a small dark brown ball rolled over the street between them. He looked up where he could take a glimpse of the other cloaked person before it disappeared. Looking back at the ball he noticed it. Before it touched the wall it was rolling towards he covered his ears and made himself small. The thing exploded, creating a huge wall of smoke. When the explosion was over he looked up. The smoke was still there. He looked at the wall behind him. There was a rope hanging. On top stood the hooded person gesturing at him. He hesitated for a second, but he didn't really have another chance and the smoke had almost cleared.

When he had reached the top they ran across the next two roofs until they stopped. Now he could see the person's face. It was a girl, no older than himself. She was small and her skin was pale, in huge contrast to her extremely dark brown eyes. She looked relieved for a moment. The moment didn't last long though.

When Zuko tried to just leave she grabbed his arm. He turned around to get her hand away, but it was already too late. There was a dagger held against his throat.

"I think you still have something of mine" she said with a blank face. When he didn't respond she grabbed into his pocket, pulling out the scroll herself. "Thanks" she said and before he knew, she'd pulled away his mask. He stared at her in shock.

She looked surprised herself for a second, then she smiled viciously. "Well, I think we're even now" she said and withdrew the dagger. Zuko was startled, but before he could ask any questions she had already turned around and ran.

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><p><strong>I hope you liked the first chapter, I'd be happy about some reviews<strong>


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